TAMPA — Hillsborough County Commissioner Victor Crist warned recently that local officials need to step in — and fast — to save the historic Jackson Rooming House.
More than a Year ago
More than a Year ago
More than a Year ago
Crist suggested the county should acquire the century-old Tampa landmark, which once housed black entertainers including Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald when they came to town, to salvage what it can of the aging building before it’s too late.
"This is a time matter," Crist told commissioners at a meeting last week. "It’s being scheduled to be torn down rather soon."
That’s news to the nonprofit that controls the Jackson House.
There are no plans to raze the building, said Carolyn Collins, the chairwoman of the Jackson House Foundation Inc. In fact, builders recently completed a stabilization project and the foundation will soon begin a fundraising campaign aimed at full restoration.
"It would’ve been nice if Victor Crist would’ve contacted us and talked to us rather than bring it up to the commission," Collins said. "I’m curious why he would want to buy it after we stabilized it and are getting ready to go into restoration phase."
It was Crist’s intention to send in photographers and architects to capture the two-story building at 851 Zack St. in its current state. That way, after demolition, it could be recreated to look identical to its predecessor.
Crist hoped a new Jackson House, built with reclaimed and restored wood and fixtures from the original facility, could anchor his idea for a new venture to preserve and display Hillsborough’s black history. Crist said he’s been working with local black leaders on the idea.
Collins, the former president of the local chapter of the NAACP, said Crist’s vision sounds in line with her own idea to turn the Jackson House into a museum celebrating the black entertainers who once graced its halls. But the building isn’t up for sale.
"They don’t have to buy the house," Collins said. "Why not just put up some of the money for the foundation to restore it?"
The Jackson House has stood for decades as a powerful symbol for Tampa’s black community, a monument to some of the 20th century’s great black performers and a sobering reminder of the Jim Crow South.
It housed the likes of Fitzgerald, singer James Brown and even baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, who were barred from the city’s white-only hotels when in Tampa to play and perform. Unlike nearby stores and restaurants, it survived the destruction of the Central Avenue business and nightclub district in the 1970s and was named to the National Register of Historic Places and Florida’s Black Heritage Trail.
But the house has since fallen into disrepair. It stopped taking guests in 1989 and multiple attempts to restore or develop the property have failed, in part because of its condition.
Even now, after stabilization, its physical ailments are readily visible. The building sags in spots, the siding is falling off, window panes don’t look long for this world and sunshine pokes through holes in the roof.
The Jackson House Foundation wants to raise $1.3 million to renovate and restore the building and keep it in its location.
Crist was not sure where a rebuilt Jackson House would end up if it did move to a new spot in Hillsborough County, but he said there were other advantages to acquiring the parcel it sits on.
"That piece of real estate is contiguous with other county buildings downtown," Crist said, referring to the nearby George E. Edgecomb Courthouse. "So it wouldn’t be far-fetched for it to be a valuable piece of turf for us to have in our inventory."
After last week’s meeting, Commissioner Sandy Murman addressed Crist’s idea with skepticism.
"That is a city property," Murman told him, "And they need to take care of that property."
Contact Steve Contorno at scontorno@tampabay.com and (813) 226-3433. Follow @scontorno.
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